Create Your Own Game (E5)
Episode Overview The final four teams create their own game, with another pyramid piece and samadhi on the line, which will have a big impact on the next Temple mission and in deciding the final three teams. Another twist: the loser of this Endurance Mission will be automatically sent to the next Temple of Fate. Summary The day begins bright and early in the High Sierras, when JD gathers the contestants still in the game for a morning chat. There are only four teams left — Purple, Green, Red and Blue — and everyone is eager to find out which players will receive Max and Kristine’s, (of the now departed Orange team) lone pyramid piece. Dakota and Kelsey of Purple are confident that it is theirs, as they’d had an alliance with Orange from day one of the contest. But to Dakota’s surprise, as he reads aloud the note behind, it is revealed that Orange still holds a grudge against Purple for not placing them in the “protected position” when the superteams were formed a few days prior. In a surprising fashion not expected by anyone, Orange decides to leave their piece to Cameron and Aeriel of the Red team! Red now has two pieces, Knowledge and Strength. Blue has five, Purple has three, Green has one. As the contestants come to grips with the latest turn of events, JD lets loose another potential momentum-shifting surprise to the game: the final four teams will create their own game for their Endurance mission, using only a batch of supplies provided to them by JD! With that notification, JD promptly leaves the group brainstorming about their game, but the teams have a hard time reaching a consensus. Everyone seems to think their own idea is the best, especially Dakota, who leaves the group stranded to come up with something without him. Finally, Kelsey and Connor create a game that, although Dakota is quite vocal about not liking, the contestants must stick with because time has run out. The teams finally meet up with JD in the forest clearing to play the game. In a change of pace, Kelsey from Purple explains the rules of the game to JD! Each team must use a pan held up by sticks to catch a ball while moving across an obstacle course. Once the obstacle course is cleared, the teams must grab a flag and run back across the course to plant it in the area from where they began. The first team to get all five of their balls into the can and carry their flag back to the starting point wins. Not only are the Samadhi and another pyramid piece (Ingenuity) on the line in this afternoon’s mission, but JD has one more twist to throw into the mix before they begin: the team that comes in last in this mission will automatically go to Temple the next day! The pressure is on big time, and JD begins the game. Purple is first to get a ball in, then Blue. Blue displays excellent teamwork, communicating at every step. Then, suddenly, Cealey’s ball flies into Blue’s lane and hits Taylor in the elbow. Alex screams in protest, proclaiming, “What the heck?” Blue perseveres and takes the lead. At one point it seems like Purple is close to catching up, but Blue forges ahead. Taylor and Connor ultimately win the game. Taylor does a celebratory dance, while the other teams look on in frustration. Blue has beaten the odds again to come out on top, while Red, the last-place finisher, is guaranteed a trip to Temple unless they win the next Temple mission. After the game, Cealey, still infuriated, tells Taylor that she hit their ball, with little response. Back at camp, Taylor says she wants to give the Samadhi to Green, because of Cealey. Connor, however, believes the best strategy is to target Purple, despite his partner’s grudge. Connor tells Kelsey that Purple is most likely getting the Samadhi that evening. Meanwhile, Cealey and Alex continue to lament over the fact that Taylor hit their ball during the mission. Cealey speculates that Taylor hit their ball on purpose, because she didn’t apologize for doing it. Later on, in a last-ditch attempt to save her team from the Samadhi, Kelsey reveals to Taylor that Cealey is telling the other contestants that Taylor cheated during the mission! Taylor starts to cry and wonders why everyone hates her. Kelsey comforts her and then suggests that she could get back at Cealey by giving Green the Samadhi. Kelsey thinks Purple doesn’t deserve it, since she always comforts Taylor. Meanwhile, Cealey sees Taylor and Kelsey talking and heads off to confront Kelsey about her new “friendship.” Later, Taylor tells Connor she is having second thoughts about giving the Samadhi to Purple. She pleads with Connor to give it to another team, because Kelsey is the only player left in the game who is still nice to her. Connor begs Taylor to be smart and to not trust Purple, since they have plotted to get Blue out of the game twice. He is adamant that they must handicap Purple, since they are the strongest team. At the same time, down below at the treehouses, Cealey is lambasting Kelsey about spending so much time with Taylor. Kelsey counters that she has only been doing that because Cealey spends all her time with Dakota now. They realize it was a misunderstanding, but then Kelsey tells Cealey that Taylor was crying earlier when she heard Cealey accusing her of cheating. Cealey is appalled and starts yelling loudly about how much Taylor cries. Ariel runs down to tell them that Taylor is now crying because she hears them talking! Cealey begins to yell even louder, and laughs at how much Taylor cries. Kelsey confides in the other girls that the only reason she is being nice to Taylor is because they have six pieces. Although envious at first, Aeriel and Cealey concede, and congratulate Kelsey on her brilliant strategy. The teams head off to the ridge to talk to JD. Will Connor’s reasoning prevail? Will Taylor agree to give the Samadhi to Purple and thus cripple the strongest team? JD asks Red if they are worried about their automatic Temple position. Cameron says they will try hard tomorrow to change their fate. JD then notices that Taylor looks unhappy. After some prodding, she admits that she is upset that Cealey called her a cheater. JD turns to Cealey, who replies that she doesn’t necessarily think Taylor cheated, but that she seemed happy to have hit Green’s ball. JD wonders why the two girls can’t get along. Cealey responds that some friendships just weren’t meant to be. JD says he doesn’t agree with that, and reminds the players that in life they’re not always going to be around people they like, but that they must make an effort to get along. He urges the two girls to try to get to know each other and move beyond the game. Finally, JD asks Blue for their decision about which team they’re giving the Samadhi to. Blue announces that they will give the Samadhi to Purple. JD breaks open the Samadhi — inside is a 5-foot-long rope. He tells Dakota and Kelsey that they will have a 5-foot disadvantage in tomorrow’s Temple mission. JD bids the group goodnight and leaves them to wonder about the events that had transpired during the day and, more importantly, what mission they will be facing next. Standings Notes: The Friendship piece holds the Triangle of Immunity. Production Notes Quotes: *'Dakota:' "I would be happy to read the note [Orange's letter]." **'J.D.:' "Can you read the note through all that hair?" **'Dakota:' "Yes, I can see." *'Taylor:' "We're all really stubborn, and we all wanna win this really bad, so we're all trying to pick something we're really good at, and people are not really listening to others' ideas." *'Dakota:' "I just retreated away to think clearly, because I think my ideas are better— while I was thinking, the game that was lame to me was being brought up and being greater and greater, so I couldn't stop the greater force." *'J.D.:' (after Kelsey explains the mission) "You tryin' to steal my job or something?" *'Cealey:' "Taylor, you hit ours— our ball." **'Connor:' "Really?" **'Cealey:' "Yeah, you hit it all the way down here." **'Connor:' "Oh, I didn't see it..." **'Alex:' "It's alright." **'Cealey:' "It's okay; we understand, you're sorry." **'Taylor:' "It was in our lane." *'Connor:' "Hey, Kelsey, I just wanna be honest about everything, and you guys are almost definitely gonna get the Samadhi." *'Cealey:' "Early in the mission, I tried to throw the ball, and it had a weird awkward spin and it spun backwards, and as Taylor was running backwards, it hit her in the arm, and it bounced way downhill, and I had to go get it, and I thought she might have, kind of cheated, because she didn't say anything; if you mean it, you don't really say sorry— it's like, she didn't say sorry, so she almost was happy she did it." *'Alex:' "She ran right into it, pushed her elbow out." **'Cealey:' "Her elbow was out there, and she like swung it— who runs like that?!" *'Taylor: '(starting to cry) "I'm so sick of everybody, like, hating me!" **'Kelsey:' "I'm sorry." **'Taylor:' (crying) "I didn't cheat!" *'Taylor:' "Why would I knock her ball out of the way? When you're in a race, you're just going for yourself, and not worrying about what anyone else has to do in it." *'Kelsey:' "I've been so nice to her, and like, you know, done so much for her, and she comes back, and she cries, and everyone else just kind of leaves her alone; but, you know, I'm the one that goes over there like consoles her, and then I'm the one that gets the Samadhi, when Cealey has never done a nice thing to her, you know, since we've been here, and they get away from it and I just, you know, I didn't like that one bit." *'Aeriel:' (observing Kelsey and Taylor from inside the girls' treehouse) "Just look, just look; what do you see?" **'Cealey:' "URGH!" **'Connor:' "What?" **'Cealey:' "Sucking up to her!" *'Cealey:' "Kelsey's quite frankly making me so angry, because she's talking to Taylor— why are you talking to Taylor? That's the enemy you're talking to! I know this saying is 'Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer', but not that enemy, not her! You get close to her, she's not gonna send you, she's gonna send your best friend, your true best friend!" *'Connor:' "Do you think we have any reason to trust anyone in this game anymore?" **'Taylor:' "I'm not giving it to Kelsey!" **'Connor:' "Taylor, I'm sorry, but clearly, she didn't have a problem sending you when we had SuperTeams." *'Connor:' "Purple's kinda tried to get us twice; I mean, they basically plotted to get us out of the game, which you know, thankfully failed, but now we're supposed to believe they're not gonna send us to Temple? Uh, no!" *'Cealey: '"You know what's been troubling me? It's because for the past week, you have been hanging out with Taylor. A lot." **'Kelsey: '"Mhm, because you have been hanging out with Dakota, and I know that y'all like each other, and I didn't wanna interrupt, and so Taylor's there, so I'm gonna hang out with Taylor now because you're taken." *'Kelsey:' "You were always occupied, and I felt like a third wheel." **'Cealey:' "You didn't have to!" **'Kelsey:' "I didn't wanna be unfair to you, and tell [Taylor] to back off you, because that wouldn't be right." *'Kelsey:' "There was just a big misunderstanding, and, you know, now we're all buddy-buddy again, but whenever she's talking about Taylor, she had said some stuff pretty loud, like about how much Taylor cries." *'Cealey:' "OH, MY GOSH, PLEASE STOP WITH THE CRYING!" **'Connor:' "Wow." **'Taylor:' (under her breath) "Shut up." **'Cealey:' "I don't know why, but she cries a lot— she cries when she loses, she cries when someone says something about her. Why does she keep crying? I don't know, is she like, 5 years old?" **'Aeriel:' (coming down from the treehouse ladder)"She's crying now because she hears you saying—" **'Cealey:' "OH MY GOSH!" (buries her face) **'Aeriel:' "I don't get it; I don't know, I mean, I don't know." **'Kelsey:' "No one else is being nice to her, like, I'm the only one, and she said that, like, a million times, just like, 'You're the only one that will talk to me!', and I'm thinking 'They have six pieces!'" **'Cealey:' "Good; it's a good strategy." **'Aeriel:' (walks over to congratulate Kelsey with a hug) "Oh, so that's what's going on? Love you, you're just brilliant!" *'Alex:' "If I was them, not if was me, I would probably end up giving it to Purple, if I was... but I'm not them though, I'm me!" *'Cameron:' (about finishing in last place and automatically going to the next Temple) "I'm a little nervous, but we've got another shot tomorrow to make things different, so I'm just gonna go in with a lot of confidence and hope for the best." *'J.D.:' "Taylor, what's wrong?" **'Taylor:' "Nothing!" **'Cealey:' "Honesty!" **'Taylor:' "I'm fine." **'J.D.:' "Be honest." **'Taylor:' "I don't like being called a cheater." **'J.D.:' "Who called you a cheater?" ***'Taylor:' "Cealey." ***'J.D.:' "When?" ***'Taylor:' "After the mission, because she said I elbowed her ball out of the way and smiled." *'J.D.:' "So you think that she was cheating?" **'Cealey:' "I don't necessarily think she was cheating, but I think she was happy she probably did it." *'J.D.:' "You guys have been out here a long time, and yet, you can't figure out a way to get along?" **'Cealey:' "Sometimes you just can't get along with people; it wasn't meant to be." **'J.D.:' "I don't really buy that— I think you need to spend the time to get to know someone, to find out who they really are, and to keep an open mind, 'cause in life, you're not always gonna like who your roommate is, who you're working with, who you live with, and you're always gonna have to try, and figure it out, and this is the best place to learn how to do that, so you guys [Cealey and Taylor] you try to spend a little time together getting past the game, and trying to find out who each other truly is." *'Connor:' (from the preview of Fill 'er Up at the episode's end credits) "No one has ever gone to Temple three times and come back, so we need this the most out of anybody." Trivia *Blue's win in this episode means that Blue (including back when Taylor was partnered with Ike) has won all endurance missions this season where the power of the samedhi was the prize. *When J.D. mentions that no team who has become Endurance Champions hasn't gone up to Temple at least once, this is inaccurate, as the Blue Team from the first season never made it to Temple before the finale. *Last time in the series where the contestants get to create their own game. **Also, only time where the contestants create their own game in the final four. Episode Link *Endurance High Sierras: Create Your Own Game on Veoh (full episode) Category:Episodes Category:Endurance Missions Category:Season 5 episodes